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Crucial change to HGVC - We must take action, stand together and be heard

Tamaradarann

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HGVC has lost me as an OS customer with their games since 2015.
I have way too many options in RCI, SFX and II to bother with this anymore.
I get an AC for pretty much anything I throw into II these days and a full week
at a comparable competitor suits me just fine over just 2 over priced OS nights.

I'm sorry to see the benefit go, but apparently they are not, so they can keep it.
I am sad to see it gone with the SW Florida properties but then again I can still
use my points in the club as I originally intended.

So goes the never ending game of developer devaluation of our products.
Apparently they could care less if they have cheer leaders or not.
I'll certainly share my disdain in the hot tub with anyone who will listen. ;)

I just checked the website and I saw the 3 nights in a 1 BR at the Grand Islander in Honolulu for about $400. That certainly didn't seem like a very high rate. Like I stated before I believe it was an error in the website for that particular stay that was cited.

As far as being able to get an RCI, SFX and II stay for a full week; you can get those weeks where and when and how far out do you need to book them? I will offer the following example where Open Season can be very useful. Do to a pending snow storm that was coming to NYC in a few days, I wanted to change my flight to Honolulu this past winter to leave 2 days earlier. Therefore, I needed 2 extra nights in Honolulu to extend my stay there. Using Open Season I found 2 nights at the Grand Islander in a 1 BR for $140/night which worked out great since we don't get a car and didn't need an additional cab ride to get from the Grand Islander to the Lagoon Tower for the rest of our stay. With RCI, SFX or II you either can't do that or need a great deal of luck.
 

chriskre

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Enchanted Isle resort.
I just checked the website and I saw the 3 nights in a 1 BR at the Grand Islander in Honolulu for about $400. That certainly didn't seem like a very high rate. Like I stated before I believe it was an error in the website for that particular stay that was cited.

As far as being able to get an RCI, SFX and II stay for a full week; you can get those weeks where and when and how far out do you need to book them? I will offer the following example where Open Season can be very useful. Do to a pending snow storm that was coming to NYC in a few days, I wanted to change my flight to Honolulu this past winter to leave 2 days earlier. Therefore, I needed 2 extra nights in Honolulu to extend my stay there. Using Open Season I found 2 nights at the Grand Islander in a 1 BR for $140/night which worked out great since we don't get a car and didn't need an additional cab ride to get from the Grand Islander to the Lagoon Tower for the rest of our stay. With RCI, SFX or II you either can't do that or need a great deal of luck.

Awesome!
I can totally see that working in your favor.
I live in Florida though so my options are endless but it is definitely nice to have OS to fall back on.
I do check it on occasion but for my needs doing a flex change into one of the just as nice Marriott, Starwood, Bluegreen or any other Orlando resorts now comes out ahead for me. Just so much last minute developers inventory thrown in last minute I would rather sprawl out and take my time playing with a full week than rushing to get out by the OS deadline.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

PigsDad

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I still use Open Season for Valdoro during ski season. My work schedule is quite flexible, so if I see a few days open up and I am feeling like it, I will grab it for a mini ski vaca for myself. Even though it used to be a great deal ($80/night for a 1BR mid-week), I still find value in the program, but now mostly only for studios.

Kurt
 

Tamaradarann

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Awesome!
I can totally see that working in your favor.
I live in Florida though so my options are endless but it is definitely nice to have OS to fall back on.
I do check it on occasion but for my needs doing a flex change into one of the just as nice Marriott, Starwood, Bluegreen or any other Orlando resorts now comes out ahead for me. Just so much last minute developers inventory thrown in last minute I would rather sprawl out and take my time playing with a full week than rushing to get out by the OS deadline.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We don't use Open Season for a long vacation since it is usually never available in Honolulu where we love to go for that long. Being in Florida you don't need to worry about airfare to get to many resorts you can get a great deal almost anytime and drive to a vacation. If I was in Florida the place that I would use open season would be the HGVC in Miami Beach. As in Honolulu Open Season is never available for a long stay but you can get a few night here and there and with your location you to drive there easily.
 

brp

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We don't use Open Season for a long vacation since it is usually never available in Honolulu where we love to go for that long.

We're Hawai'i Island people, and things are readily available there, at very good rates. For example, we wanted to go first weekend of June we could pay $443 at bay Club, and even only at KL. Definitely seems a great deal to me.

Cheers.
 

chriskre

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Enchanted Isle resort.
We don't use Open Season for a long vacation since it is usually never available in Honolulu where we love to go for that long. Being in Florida you don't need to worry about airfare to get to many resorts you can get a great deal almost anytime and drive to a vacation. If I was in Florida the place that I would use open season would be the HGVC in Miami Beach. As in Honolulu Open Season is never available for a long stay but you can get a few night here and there and with your location you to drive there easily.

I live in Downtown Miami so there isn't much appeal for me to stay on South Beach.
I much prefer Marco Island but have just been using my HGVC points there to stay.
Haven't done an OS on Marco since they made the change.
Probably won't do it any time soon either and Orlando has just too many good options
to throw my good money at.

I own an awesome multi week trader, so my II exchanges
beat OS rates for the most part unless I just needed 2 nights which I rarely do.
It is what it is.

HGVC giveth and they taketh away and II and RCI gets my money now instead.
I can slum it at a Marriott or Starwood. ;)
I went to Hawaii 2 years ago and got my HGVC fix already so I'm good for a long while.
I still get nice value from the club in SW Florida which is really the reason I bought this
to begin with. OS was just gravy. I can eat dry toast if necessary.
 

chriskre

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We're Hawai'i Island people, and things are readily available there, at very good rates. For example, we wanted to go first weekend of June we could pay $443 at bay Club, and even only at KL. Definitely seems a great deal to me.

Cheers.

You're closer to HI, I gotta fly 11 hours.
It's great that the club can work out for so many of us in so many ways.
And having access to DVC thru the portal is just a nice icing on the cake.
 

Sapper

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You're closer to HI, I gotta fly 11 hours.
It's great that the club can work out for so many of us in so many ways.
And having access to DVC thru the portal is just a nice icing on the cake.

As a recent resale purchaser (still waiting for the transfer) into HGVC, I'm curious how much availability (and where) there is into DVC using RCI?
 

chriskre

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Enchanted Isle resort.
As a recent resale purchaser (still waiting for the transfer) into HGVC, I'm curious how much availability (and where) there is into DVC using RCI?

I haven't followed it that closely anymore since I already own DVC, but you should
join TUG so you can see the bulk deposits to RCI from DVC and also sign up for
the alerts.

Definitely set up an ongoing search. It's your best bet on
getting a DVC although lately it seems it's pretty much mostly SSR.
Seems the days of the better stuff is being better controlled by DVC and is either
being kept for the club (as it should be) or rented out by the mouse to max his profits.
Still if you don't mind SSR and it's actually more desirable now with Disney Springs
in full swing, it's still a nice place to stay.
 

GT75

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I still use Open Season for Valdoro during ski season. .... Even though it used to be a great deal ($80/night for a 1BR mid-week), I still find value in the program,

I agree with you Kurt. I think that OS for the mountain resorts (Valdoro and Park City) is still a pretty good deal. The only time that I used OS was at Sunrise Lodge last year. I needed some more rooms for a couple of nights. I wanted to use open season at Valdoro this year, but I booked with points instead to get the room (one night wasn’t in OS yet).

I certainly wish that I lived as close to Valdoro as you do. Then I would wait for OS and snow too.
 

Sapper

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I haven't followed it that closely anymore since I already own DVC, but you should
join TUG so you can see the bulk deposits to RCI from DVC and also sign up for
the alerts.

Definitely set up an ongoing search. It's your best bet on
getting a DVC although lately it seems it's pretty much mostly SSR.
Seems the days of the better stuff is being better controlled by DVC and is either
being kept for the club (as it should be) or rented out by the mouse to max his profits.
Still if you don't mind SSR and it's actually more desirable now with Disney Springs
in full swing, it's still a nice place to stay.

Is it showing that I'm not a member here?

I'll have to figure out how to sign up for the alerts, thank you for the idea.

I've read that most of what DVC turns over to RCI is one bed units, just was not sure availability of them. Thanks.
 

brp

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I've read that most of what DVC turns over to RCI is one bed units, just was not sure availability of them. Thanks.

What I have read (and I don't recall if it was here or on a DVC board that I read) is that it is generally the less desirable places that get turned over as the members book the more desirable places. I can't confirm this since we also own DVC, but I can say that even member bookings at the more desirable places are getting harder, so this reasonable.

Cheers.
 

chriskre

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Enchanted Isle resort.
Is it showing that I'm not a member here?

I'll have to figure out how to sign up for the alerts, thank you for the idea.

I've read that most of what DVC turns over to RCI is one bed units, just was not sure availability of them. Thanks.

It shows you are a member but I guess you aren't seeing the sighting forum.
You can sign up for it and get notifications when there is something interesting deposited.
 

chriskre

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What I have read (and I don't recall if it was here or on a DVC board that I read) is that it is generally the less desirable places that get turned over as the members book the more desirable places. I can't confirm this since we also own DVC, but I can say that even member bookings at the more desirable places are getting harder, so this reasonable.

Cheers.

Yes there was enough noise made about all the ebay rentals that someone in DVC tightened the purse strings a tad.
There is also the effect of the mouse selling tons of points in the smaller resorts like Poly for those grand villas
that are sitting empty which is really tightening inventory on the studios at Poly and now Boulder Creek.

There are some threads on Mouseowners about it and how the points manipulation is really doing a number on
studio availability. Honestly I have to say that it has not affected me yet because I tend to be a planner with
my DVC and have been pretty lucky getting what I want with my 11-7 month booking windows. I think where
people are complaining is that they are mega renting and of course most people want to rent studios cause they
are cheap and they want to cram everyone into 200 sq ft.

Those rentals are also competing with the mouse doing his own renting. Honestly these spec renters are really
working their tails off to get those $17-$18 a point that they were used to but with so many points brokers why
bother with them. I wouldn't if I was a renter. The points brokers make it just way too easy for a buyer.
Shoot I was shocked at the great ressies my points broker got for my buyers. I never imagined that you could
get such nice ressies with very few months notice and these are not even high holidays, just summer break.

I say all this to say, don't believe everything you hear. Lots of blah blah blah about not much.
If these people would buy to use and plan like necessary there wouldn't be all this bad PR.
It's just that people don't want to plan. They want it done for them. Well that's great, then don't,
buy a timeshare and just rent from the mouse at rack rates. I'm sure he'd be happy to oblige.
 

Tamaradarann

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Yes there was enough noise made about all the ebay rentals that someone in DVC tightened the purse strings a tad.
There is also the effect of the mouse selling tons of points in the smaller resorts like Poly for those grand villas
that are sitting empty which is really tightening inventory on the studios at Poly and now Boulder Creek.

There are some threads on Mouseowners about it and how the points manipulation is really doing a number on
studio availability. Honestly I have to say that it has not affected me yet because I tend to be a planner with
my DVC and have been pretty lucky getting what I want with my 11-7 month booking windows. I think where
people are complaining is that they are mega renting and of course most people want to rent studios cause they
are cheap and they want to cram everyone into 200 sq ft.

Those rentals are also competing with the mouse doing his own renting. Honestly these spec renters are really
working their tails off to get those $17-$18 a point that they were used to but with so many points brokers why
bother with them. I wouldn't if I was a renter. The points brokers make it just way too easy for a buyer.
Shoot I was shocked at the great ressies my points broker got for my buyers. I never imagined that you could
get such nice ressies with very few months notice and these are not even high holidays, just summer break.

I say all this to say, don't believe everything you hear. Lots of blah blah blah about not much.
If these people would buy to use and plan like necessary there wouldn't be all this bad PR.
It's just that people don't want to plan. They want it done for them. Well that's great, then don't,
buy a timeshare and just rent from the mouse at rack rates. I'm sure he'd be happy to oblige.

This Tread was starting to discuss "OPEN SEASON" rate increases at HGVC, not availability at DVC. In December of 2014 I recognized that HGVC suddenly doubled the open season rates when I tried to book January 1&2 in a 1 BR Plus at the Hokulani. At the time I remember that Thursday and Friday night Platinum Season should have been $305 (I was an Elite Plus member at the time so I did get a 15% discount) but the website quoted almost $600. Due to the comments that members made to HGVC both by phone and by e-mail the open season rate increases were rescinded. I believe there have been some modest increases since that time. However, I don't believe that the great increase that was reported that started this thread were intentional by HGVC. I believe it was a mistake.
 

chriskre

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This Tread was starting to discuss "OPEN SEASON" rate increases at HGVC, not availability at DVC. In December of 2014 I recognized that HGVC suddenly doubled the open season rates when I tried to book January 1&2 in a 1 BR Plus at the Hokulani. At the time I remember that Thursday and Friday night Platinum Season should have been $305 (I was an Elite Plus member at the time so I did get a 15% discount) but the website quoted almost $600. Due to the comments that members made to HGVC both by phone and by e-mail the open season rate increases were rescinded. I believe there have been some modest increases since that time. However, I don't believe that the great increase that was reported that started this thread were intentional by HGVC. I believe it was a mistake.


True and I did get off topic. My bad.
I am sure you are correct that HGVC didn't do it on purpose but come on, how incompetent
can your IT team be that they can't fix the website for a year after bringing it to their attention.
I know there are lots of bugs in these big websites, I sell online for a living so live with a ton of glitches
that just don't seem to ever be able to get fixed by my HUGE marketplace.
Usually though it's rarely in the favor of the client but more in favor of the big system that can't "find and fix" the bug.
Call me a skeptic but if you can't do your job and fix the code then you conveniently aren't trying hard enough or
hiring the wrong people in some far off land and you need to bring the work back to the US.

I love HGVC, it still works great for me but OS no longer does. No skin off my back, trust me.
That's why I don't over commit to any one system. These developers just can't be trusted
to do the right thing 80% of the time let alone 100% of the time.
Whether intentional or not, things just keep changing and not always for the good.
I still have 8 timeshares so obviously I'm still in for the long haul
and I just bought my most recent one 3 years ago.
 
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